For someone with limited knowledge of industrial adhesives, the wide variety available in the market can be mind-boggling. To make your adhesive selection a bit easier, we have piled together a few of the ‘Industrial Adhesive’ types that are commonly found and used for a variety of purposes like fill gaps between seams, prevent leaks, prevent infiltration or contain fluids.
Two Major Categories of Industrial Adhesives
Industrial Adhesives can generally be divided based on either their
- Chemical Composition, and
- Adhesive Properties
Let us take a quick look at the different adhesive types based on these categories.
Chemical Composition-
In this category we classify industrial adhesives based on their chemical constituents. Here are some major types you may easily find:
Acrylic adhesives
These adhesives are known for their fast setting times and exceptional environment resistance properties. The most common name given to acrylic adhesives or cyanoacrylates is ‘Super Glue’. Super Glue is widely used to repair broken items in regular households. Because of their fast curing properties, they also found extensive use in suturing wounds and cuts during the Vietnam War. Some examples of Loctite cyanoacrylates available at BohriAli are Loctite Sicomet and Loctite 4090 Hybrid Adhesive.
Phenolic, melamine, and formaldehyde resins
These are thermosetting adhesives, i.e., need heat and heat & pressure to form a strong bond. These are generally used where high temperature resistance is required. Since melamine formaldehyde resins have moisture- resistance properties, they are generally used as wood and countertop adhesives.
Rubber adhesives
Generally based on butadiene-styrene, poly-isobutylene, butyl or nitrile compounds; these adhesives and sealants provide highly flexible bonds. The image we have on the left is a rubber adhesive by Loctite, generally used to repair shoes and footwear.
Epoxy adhesives
Epoxy is a co-polymer made of one part resin and one part hardener. The epoxy adhesive from Loctite, EA E-30HV is used for magnet bonding, electrical insulation, high gap fill and in switchgears in potting of contractor coil.
Silicone adhesives
With high degrees of temperature resistance and flexibility, silicone adhesives are perfect for plumbing and marine applications. There are four common application areas for silicone adhesives and sealants, namely glass bonding, home repairs, as construction sealants and in manufacture of small parts of automobile, electronic devices and appliances.
Polyurethane adhesives
These provide remarkable impact resistance, durability and flexibility; all these features make it an excellent adhesive choice for finish wood carpentry. Besides furniture, it is also greatly used by building and construction industry, transportation industry and packaging services.
Adhesion Properties-
This category, as the name suggests uses the adhesion properties of various industrial adhesives to categorize them in various groups like-
Hot melt adhesives
These are re-usable and allow removal or repositioning of parts during assembly. One simply has to turn up the heat to soften them and cool down to settle. Common uses of HMA include carton sealing and labeling, spine gluing in bookbinding and laminating applications in woodworking industry.
UV curing adhesives
Also called radiation curable adhesives; these adhesives use UV and/or other radiations to form a permanent bond without heating. The Loctite 352 is a high viscosity adhesive and is generally used for metal and glass bonding in industrial applications.
Thermoset adhesives
These are cross-linked polymeric resins with exceptional creep resistance; used for high load assemblies and cured using heat or heat/pressure. The most common areas of application for thermoset adhesives are as insulators, in electrical circuits, pipe fittings, LCD laminations and fiber optic bonding, to name a few.
Contact adhesives or Pressure sensitive adhesives (PSA)
Applications with large surface areas and those where clamping is difficult use PSAs, since they easily settle with slight pressure. The most common example of products with PSA is a post-it note used by many of us on an everyday basis.
Your choice of industrial adhesive depends on the task at hand and the materials you wish to seal together. If you have any confusion as to the selection of a suitable sealant, don’t hesitate to ask the store manager you make your purchases from. You can also find the information online and buy from online stores like BohriAli which offer a wide range of premium quality Loctite industrial adhesives for you to choose from.
